Bob Rae is the best hope for the future of the federal Liberal party.

If the Conservatives have found in Stephen Harper the leader who has redefined their party for the next decade, and Jack Layton might do the same for the NDP, who’s going to be the Liberal messiah to lead Canada’s former “natural governing party” back to life.

Looking at the present political landscape, many believe the only answer available to the Grits is Bob Rae, a politician with a great future behind him.

This certainly is what Rae hopes. No one believes for a moment that a politician with Rae’s ambitions, capacities and potential will be willing to babysit the leftovers of the Liberal caucus for two years in the basement of Parliament’s Central Block and then hand the rebuilt party over to someone else.

There are many variables involved in the political process and things can change radically in just a few weeks, as Gilles Duceppe knows full well. But the way it looks at the moment, the former “wonder boy” of Canadian politics is the only Rae of hope for the federal Liberals.

It sounds absurd, but it’s not.

If Rae manages to pull the Liberals ahead of the NDP in the opinion polls and just behind the Conservatives by the end of his interim mandate, I don’t believe the Liberals will ask him to step aside and bet instead on Justin Trudeau, Dominic LeBlanc, David McGuinty or any other potential candidate.

There will always be names like Frank McKenna or Brian Tobin, the perennial potential candidates to lead the Liberal party. But, as in the past, they would jump in only if victory in the next election were within reach. But if that were the case, why would the Liberals want to get rid of Rae, the man who made it possible?

Of course, it’s possible the Liberal party will go nowhere in the next 18 months. If that’s the case, it would be the end of the party.

This means that the Liberal party’s political future is wrapped around Rae’s political future. The former NDP premier of Ontario might not be the best choice but, at this point, he is the only choice available to the Liberals to regain their status.

Does Rae possess the qualities to succeed? He does, but his chances of success depend largely on factors beyond his control.

Canadians will take a look at the Liberals again only if the Conservatives and/or the NDP fail in their new roles. If Harper and Layton do a good job, it will be hard for Rae to win back the attention of Canadians.

His success will also depend on how much support he gets from within his own party. The problem the Liberals have had for the past 20 years is that they’ve been in permanent leadership campaign mode, even when they had a leader they elected in a real convention. Will they unite behind an interim leader whose success might mean the end, or at least postponement, of the ambitions of many of them?

Only if the answer to this question is positive, and if both the Conservatives and New Democrats disappoint Canadians, will Rae be able to play his cards.

But it’s not going to be easy. While Harper and Layton have to work to define their parties, Rae must first define himself and then his party and its relationship with Quebec. But this will be the subject of a future column.

Meanwhile, Liberals should be grateful to Rae for spending precious years on an organization whose political stock has gone down the drain. He could easily make millions in the private sector, be a lecturer in many world universities or be appointed to a prestigious government position, such as a Canadian ambassador. Instead, he is betting his years on the future of the Liberal party when others, who were at the forefront when being a federal Liberal meant being famous and powerful, are now making money and waiting for better times.

Rae knows, however, that he can still count on the solidity of the Liberal infrastructure and the support potentially still available throughout the country. And he is the only Liberal leader since Pierre Trudeau who can count on the support of Jean Chrétien, whose influence — positive or negative — has been dominant in the Liberal party since John Turner defeated him in 1984 Ottawa convention.

Angelo Persichilli is a political analyst whose column appears Sunday.

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